Portrait of Archduke Ernest of Austria – Governor of the Spanish Netherlands

Archduke Albert of Austria – Antique Portrait Engraving by J. Houbraken, c.1750 This finely detailed 18th-century portrait depicts Albertus, Archduke of Austria (1559–1621), known i...

Antique portrait titled 'Christianus IV (..)'. Portrait of Christian IV, King of Denmark. This print originates from 'Tooneel der keyseren ende coninge...

This antique portrait engraving of Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, created by the renowned engraver Emanuel van Meteren in 1618, is a remarkable piece of historical artwork. Van Mete...

(after Anthonie Van Dyck) Engraving on cream laid paper, 9 1/4 x 6 3/8 inches (234 x 161 mm), full margins. Water stain throughout bottom, diagonal creases in the area of the bottom right corner, paper tape along top edge on recto. A very well inked impression. __________Flemish painter and engraver Paulus Pontius was born in Antwerp in 1603, and it was in this city that his full life would unfold. At the young age of 13, he was apprenticed to the still life painter Osias Beert, and subsequently to Lucas Vosterman, who was heavily associated with the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens. Vosterman trained Pontius in the skill of engraving, which he took to immediately, finding he had great skill at recreating paintings. Pontius was able to capture the minutiae of light and shadow found on the canvas, and mastered the ability to accurately render the subtleties of brushwork in this alternate media. His success as an engraver cemented his role in the workshop of Rubens, and in 1624, when Vosterman found himself at odds with Rubens, and left Antwerp for England, Pontius assumed his role as foremost engraver in the workshop. It was in this year that Pontius took up lodgings in Rubens's home, and continued to live there until 1631, when courtship and marriage (the first of three) brought him away. After the death of Rubens in 1640, Pontius embarked on a very successful career engraving reproductions of master works by artists including Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Pieter van Avont, Abraham van Diepenbeeck...